Merging old and new through business group

By Mike Gambini and Ken Obstarczyk
Bengal News reporters
 The West Side is home to a diverse population including Puerto Ricans, African Americans, Eastern Europeans, Asians and Somalis.
 Welcome to the Grant Street business district.
 Helping to bring synergy and cohesion to such a diverse area is the Grant-Ferry Association headed by Kathleen Kinan and Gary Welborn.
 Since taking over the association from founders Bob Franke and Mike Rizzo, Kinan and Welborn have begun to implement a plan that not only merges a melting pot of businesses, but incorporates an equally diverse campus, Buffalo State, which has plenty of resources to share.
 “My vision is that Grant Street can be a global commercial strip,” said Gary Welborn, vice president of the Grant Ferry Association, and chair and associate professor in the sociology department at Buffalo State.
 “I think Bob from the beginning had the idea of tapping into those communities, trying to get some entrepreneurs from those communities to anchor in with businesses,” he said. “That has happened but it can go further. We want to create a commercial strip that is organically connected with the community around it.”
 Welborn said the biggest challenge facing the association moving forward is connecting the new businesses that have sprung up, to the old businesses that have been a mainstay for over 60 years. Due to the diverse community, there is very little connection, he said.
 Grant-Ferry Association has an idea to overcome this hurdle. They plan to hold a series of business mixers with the first one taking place on Nov. 3 at G & L Flooring, 200 Grant St. Welborn said the mixer will be a great opportunity for businesses like Guercio & Sons, Sweetness 7 Café, Hatimy Market and the African Market Center and Deli to associate.
 Paul Murphy, owner of G & L Flooring, stopped short of saying he wasn’t pleased with the way the previous regime operated the association, instead, he said he is looking forward to a fresh start.
 “The mixer will hopefully bring people together under a friendly atmosphere seeing what people’s goals are for the future,” Murphy said.
  “I have met with Kathy and Gary on numerous occasions and discussions have been positive. Hopefully new leadership will change things,” he said.
 The Grant-Ferry Association is also looking to extend its reach to Buffalo State.
 Welborn hopes that students, faculty and staff will venture off campus for an experience that is unlike what they may be used to.
 “Grant Street is a unique shopping area that offers students, faculty and staff an experience much different than a shopping mall or commercial strip,” Welborn said.
  “The businesses reflect the identity and ethnicity of the groups in the area and that is something important to recognize,” he said.

Edited by Heidi Friend and Kristine Starkey